Sunday, 25 November 2012

A nurse has been suspended following allegations that he groped a female colleague at a care home during a night shift.

Sajan Karunakaran, who is in his 30s, worked at Bramley Court Residential Nursing Home, Yardley Wood, Birmingham, until the alleged incident in July.

He was arrested on site and suspended by his bosses pending an investigation.

Mr Karunakaran was later charged with sexual assault.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) have imposed an interim suspension for 18 months on Mr Karunakaran, meaning he cannot work as a nurse anywhere else during that period.

He is due to stand trial over the incident at Birmingham Crown Court on January 30 next year.

The panel’s chair Miriam Karp, said: “We decided that the pending prosecutions gave cause for concern.

“The panel was mindful of the fact that the NMC had not produced any evidence of the underlying facts of the allegation. However, we are of the view that the fact that the evidence is sufficiently compelling for the registrant to have been charged with sexual assault by the Crown Prosecution Service was an important factor in our deliberations.

“The charge was serious in nature and raised issues not only of public protection but also the wider public interest. In the panel’s judgement, public confidence in the profession would be undermined if no order was made in respect of a registrant awaiting trial.”

Mr Karunakaran did not attend the NMC hearing which was held on November 6.

His solicitor Gareth Beynon wrote to the panel saying his client could not make it due to ‘domestic and financial issues’.

It also stated that Mr Karunakaran denied the sexual assault charge and had collected numerous positive character references from colleagues.

In the letter Mr Beynon asked the panel not to impose an interim suspension.

Suspension

He stated his client had no intention of gaining work as a nurse until his trial had finished and that if he was acquitted he did not want a suspension on his nursing record.

The panel dismissed these pleas saying that it was not practical to allow Mr Karunakaran to work even under strict conditions.

“We considered conditions of practice but decided the nature of the allegation was such that no conditions could be formulated at this stage which would adequately protect the public and safeguard the public interest,” added Mrs Karp. “Therefore, an interim suspension order is both necessary and proportionate.”